Career over with NU, Loos joins Capitols

BYSTEVENM. SIPPLE

The defensive linemen's eyes widened Thursday night when offensive lineman Chris Loos took the field for his first practice with the Lincoln Capitols.

"He was fresh meat for a bunch of hungry dogs," Lincoln head coach Jose Jefferson said. "But they found out that this meat had some teeth in it."

In other words, the 6-foot-3, 290-pound Loos made a favorable impression on his teammates and coaches. Indeed, the former Nebraska player will be in the starting lineup today when the Capitols play the Omaha Beef in a National Indoor Football League showdown at Omaha Civic Auditorium.

Kickoff is set for 7:05 p.m.

Lincoln badly needs a win. In fact, with a 2-2 record - including 0-2 in the Pacific North Division - the Capitols' season rides on the outcome, Jefferson said.

Is that a dangerous assessment, considering Lincoln isn't even halfway through its regular-season schedule?

"Not really,"Jefferson said."We need to play with a sense of urgency. We can't settle for just showing up and playing well. Are we asking a lot out of the guys? Yes. But we put ourselves in this position."

In addition to an expected boost from Loos, Lincoln learned this week that receiver Ty Gifford has recovered from a hamstring

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injury that has sidelined him since preseason camp. The 6-foot, 195-pound Gifford will be in the starting lineup, Jefferson said.

Loos and Gifford helped lead Lincoln Southeast to back-to-back Class A state championships in 1997 and 1998. Gifford went on to play for New Mexico State, while Loos endured an injury-plagued career at Nebraska.

In fact, Loos last week completed spring practice with the Huskers and had planned to petition the Big 12 Conference for a sixth season of eligibility. However, new NU head coach Bill Callahan earlier this week informed Loos a scholarship wouldn't be available for him come fall, and Loos decided to end his college career.

"There are no hard feelings,"Loos said. "It was just a decision I felt I had to make."

Loos enjoyed a solid start to his Nebraska career, playing in 11 games in 2000 as a redshirt freshman. However, he tore three major ligaments in his left knee during preparation for the 2000 Alamo Bowl and struggled to fully recover.

However, Loos said, his knee felt fine as he practiced this spring with the Huskers.

"My pass protection was so much better,"he said. "I ran around without any pain."

Jefferson said Loos will start on Lincoln's offensive line in place of Steve Luedtke, who will move to defensive line.

"I'm really excited to play - I have the heart of a warrior," Loos said. "I want to run around, hit people and exhaust myself."

Meanwhile, Gifford provides Lincoln with a fast and physical athlete. He'll join Dee Brown and Robert Hampton as the starting receivers, Jefferson said.

"We know teams will always gear up for our running game," Jefferson said."But we feel now we can do some things with our passing game that we weren't doing before."

As is the case with Lincoln, Omaha has lost two straight games in falling to 3-2 overall. The Beef, however, is 2-0 in the Pacific North.

Omaha on Friday announced the signing of defensive lineman Dwayne Harris, who helped lead Nebraska to the 1994 national championship. Harris played for the Capitols for two seasons and now works in Omaha.

"He's been itching to play,"said Omaha head coach Sandy Buda."But he works nights at the post office and can only practice for an hour."

Omaha, because of injuries and attrition, tonight will start a fourth different quarterback. Buda said he'll decide during warmups between Kahil Jones and Dusty Burk.

"If I want to get somebody hurt, I just put them at quarterback,"Buda said jokingly.

As of Friday, about 3,800 tickets had been sold for tonight's game at the 8,000-seat auditorium, according to Beef general manager Jon Bostick.

Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@;journalstar.com.